Quad and Cycl by ijzm

[raw]
made by ijzm for LD 39 (JAM)

Help two robots work together to conserve power in order to escape.

screenshot03.png

Controls

  • Left & right arrow keys / A and D keys - Move
  • Up arrow key / W key - Jump
  • Space - Switch between characters

Gameplay

Each character must get to the adjacent power cells in order to complete the level. The square-shaped character aligns with the blue power cells, while the circle fits in with the green.

Credits

  • Programming - @IJZM
  • Art - @Frostyflytrap
  • Level design/Additional art - @TinyCastleGuy
  • Music - @Random-storykeeper

A few things to note

  • The game is playable, but overall premature. We unfortunately couldn't get the mechanic to work properly in time. The robots were supposed to start running out of power when both were disconnected from their power cells, but in the current build, this is not the case.
  • A lot of elements in terms of sfx are missing from the game, and there are some huge bugs that will become pretty evident when you play. This is just to let you know as a heads up. Hopefully, we will be continuing this as a post jam version, and maybe even fix some of the minor game breaking bugs in the entry version. :grimacing:

The music currently doesn't loop in the game, but the track is loopable on SoundCloud here. The full OST will be coming soon.

screenshot02.png

Ratings

Overall 593th 3.1⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 578th 2.9⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 359th 3.158⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 741th 2.842⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 522th 3.25⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Audio 130th 3.722⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 464th 3.15⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 15🗳️ 19🗨️

Feedback

ruba
01. Aug 2017 · 16:30 UTC
Your robots are cute, I like animation!
Music is awesome.
Hope to play version with fixed mechanics - game has potential.
Azargaz
01. Aug 2017 · 17:05 UTC
Shame that core mechanic doesn't work, but still it was fun to play. Music is nice but it doesn't loop so it just stops after a while. I liked the look of robots and power cells but the backgrounds and tiles are meh, but they fit the theme of the game.
Shinmera
01. Aug 2017 · 18:19 UTC
It seems that the robots have achieved flight, as you can levitate indefinitely by just hitting up repeatedly. Them not running out of power either pretty much removes all of the puzzle elements from the game. That aside, the fact that you immediately switch between the characters as soon as you go across a charging station leads to a lot of frustrating forth and back as you try to move across one.

The music was nice though, which is a rarity in ludum dare entries. Good joj on that.
wasea
01. Aug 2017 · 18:46 UTC
So many levels :), unlike other games
Jake Cope
01. Aug 2017 · 21:10 UTC
Lots of potential, the music was nice and the core mechanic sounds interesting. Hope to see more.
EdwinGameDev
02. Aug 2017 · 15:39 UTC
Wow, i find your game really cute! If you could finish the mechanics it would be nice to play again! Platformer are always great games!
ginger9
03. Aug 2017 · 05:23 UTC
Nice graphic and music. I'm a little confused because I can't figure out where should I go and the robots can fly. It seems there is a loop.
junjunlowpoly
04. Aug 2017 · 06:27 UTC
The music is amazing for a game jam! The mechanism is novel and interesting. I hope to see the game finished and expanded because it seems to have quite a lot potential.

The design for the two robots are simple but cute!
christina-antoinette-neofotistou
06. Aug 2017 · 22:04 UTC
Lots of levels, you got a ton of work done, congratulations! The robots are super cute too!
A few bugs related to collisions (I got stuck on the side of platforms a few times).

I can see where you wanted to implement the mechanic, and I can see it would be an even more fun game if you did!

Congrats again :)
Hadrien
07. Aug 2017 · 22:23 UTC
Fun game, good potential, love the music too, well done!
Agecaf
08. Aug 2017 · 08:22 UTC
Hi! This is a solid idea, hopefully you can iron out those bugs. Btw it works on Linux with wine (most Unity games seem to work).

Artwise; It's usually best to have the assets consistent in style (in this case, level of detail). For example, the background, the power supply and the characters all have a different "detail density".

*Having said that*, each asset is individually very good, especially the background and those character animations!

Code-wise and design-wise, you probably already know the bugs (_cough_ infinite jumps _cough_). You'd also might want a "connect to power" button, for example in the water level, when square reaches its power socket you're pressing "right", which then makes circle walk into the water : / It would also be great to have a camera transition from one robot to the other instead of an instant jump. A trick I like to use is to have each frame something like

``` camera.x = target.x + (camera.x - target.x) * 0.9 ```

Where target is where I want the camera to be. It gives it a bit of a "lag-behind" feeling, but makes it so that target can jump around with the camera quickly following. The 0.9 can be changed for anything below 1 (and above 0), the closer to 1 the slower the camera.

*Having said that*, the levels and the way they're put into the game is really well done; the "coloured blocks" mechanic is well implemented and gives a great tool to the level designer, who used it well.

Finally, it's a really nice tune you've got there @random-storykeeper ! I love the chiptune sound, and the pizzicato was a great addition.

It shows there was a lot of effort put into this, great job everyone!
TheOneThatNeverWas
10. Aug 2017 · 20:56 UTC
Nice game. With a little more polish it would turn into a amazing game! I really want to see a post-jam version of it!
DDRKirbyISQ
15. Aug 2017 · 06:17 UTC
Hehe, cute! Strange though, for some reason when I first finished level 1 it simply restarted the level rather than advancing the game.

Obviously buggy and unfinished, but a good idea!
Tuomo
18. Aug 2017 · 15:56 UTC
I found the switching between characters really annoying and too sudden. It left me couple of times really confused. Also as mentioned earlier: different resolutions of lo-res graphics don’t fit well together.
HuvaaKoodia
19. Aug 2017 · 16:26 UTC
Ok puzzle prototype with solid mechanics. I can imagine a *power running out* mechanic adding a lot. The graphic's are messy and unpolished, but not eye-searing.

It is a bit weird that the characters are colorless shapes, while the rechargers are colored yet nearly identical. This is probably an even bigger problem for colorblind people.

Keep at it, by all means.
TheMonsterFromTheDeep
20. Aug 2017 · 04:46 UTC
Not a lot to say, honestly - but the core concept looks good, and I think it really could go somewhere.

The main problem currently that isn't merely a bug in programming is the sockets - I often am pushed out of a socket on the opposite side of where I want to be, and when I start walking I go straight back into the socket, which is really annoying.
InappropriateName
20. Aug 2017 · 14:03 UTC
I enjoyed this! i liked the simplicity of the robots and their animations!